So nearly 2,000 languages total spoken in India. And that doesn’t even count the non-native languages to the country.

Again, a ripe opportunity for anyone looking to become a translator in India.

English in India

And speaking of non-native languages spoken in India, let’s talk about English.

We all know how prominent English is.

It’s spoken nearly everywhere.

It’s the third most natively-spoken language, only behind Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

It’s the most commonly-used language online.

It’s the world’s most influential language.

Finally, it’s the world’s most widely-spoken language when you add the number of native English speakers to the number of people who speak it as a second language.

Nearly 1.8 billion people fit into this category!

But what about English in India?

Well, some estimates say that 4% of the population in India speak English.

That might not seem like a lot at first, but when you remember that there are around 900 million people living in India, that’s a good 36 million people that speak English.

That’s makes India the country with the most English speakers behind only the U.S. and the UK.

And for a lot of reasons (most of them political), English, while not one of the 22 official languages of India, still remains at the heart of Indian politics, culture, higher education, and society as a whole.

(English is one of the two official languages of the Union Government of India.)

For translators, this is a plus.

This means that there should be ample opportunities to both translate into English as well as from English.

Population in India

Let’s face it. The more people that speak a given language, the more work (generally) a translator will have translating to or from that language.

Regardless, there are still a lot of positives for anyone considering becoming a translator in India.

And now that we’ve discussed the benefits, let’s talk about how to do it once you’ve decided it’s worth it.

Steps to Become a Translator in India

OK, so just like everywhere else, to become a translator in India will require one of two paths to be taken.

If you’re a language expert living inside India and want to become a translator in India, you’re going to follow a slightly different set of steps than a translator living outside India in order to reach your goal.

However, each of these paths has significant crossover, so we’ll talk about them both together.

Feel free to use what is applicable to your particular situation.

First of all, the Ease of Doing Business index I mentioned above is going to have a bigger impact on you than someone looking to do business with India but living outside the country.

But don’t let that scare you.

There are plenty of translators within India that have made it happen before you.

You can become a translator in India, too.

Find a professional translator organization in India.

The first thing you want to do is look for a professional translation organization in India.

These organizations have members that have already gone through what you’re looking to do.

After a quick search, Indian Translators Association seems to be the main translation association here (although I’m sure there are others).

Indian Translators Association (http://itaindia.org/translators/) – This page has a list of 63 translators with their full contact information. If you emailed all of them (individually, so you don’t spam them) with your questions, I’m sure at least one would answer.

Contact the members of this organization to help you to navigate your way.

Reach out to translation companies in India.

There are a whole host of translation companies in India.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here again. Translation agencies are a way for you to get started as a translator.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a translator in the UK, in Russia, Sweden, or in India.

Finding the right contacts and clients that will give you a shot to get started is all a numbers game.

The more people you reach out to, the more likely it is that you’ll find someone that needs your services and hires you.

How do you find translation companies in India?

A simple Google search.

Here are ten twelve translation companies in India I found by doing a 30-second search on Google:

Indian Translator

Ideal Lingua Translations

Language Services Bureau

Crystal Hues

Salwai Translation Services

Mayflower Language Services

Translation in India

Shakti Enterprise

Integrated Language Solutions

Trans Infopreneur

Lingual Consultancy

TridIndia

Contact each one of them. Tell them that you are a translator with experience and are looking to expand your clientele.

Build a relationship with each of them and work to have it blossom into a working partnership.

Do this with every translation company in India that you can.

Eventually you’ll have success, in the form of someone saying yes, that the company will hire you for a job.

Contact companies in India that could use your skills.

There are thousands of companies in India that need translators.

Some of them might hire in-house translators but most will use independent freelance translators.

These will be businesses ranging from steel manufacturers to medical technology companies to high-tech enterprises.

It doesn’t matter what your specialization is, you’ll be able to find multiple companies that need your services.